Combination shipping and display container



Filed Feb. 23, 1966 0d. 24, 1967 J, E, BEEBY 381348,657.l

COMBINATION SHIPPING AND DISPLAY'CONTAINER 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. `)ohn E. Beeby ATTORNEY v Oct. 24, 1967 K J, E, BEEBY 3,348,667

COMBINATION SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed Feb. 23, 1966 4 Sheets-Shee- INVENTOR. John E. Bee by l' ATTORNEY Oct 24 J. E. BEEBY COMBINATION SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed Feb. 2s. 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ill INVENTOR, E. Beeby ATTORNEY 3,348,657 Patented ct. 24, 1967 3,348,667 COMBMATION SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER v.lohn E. Eeeby, Alameda, Calif., assignor to The'Clorox Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Feb. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 529,441 9 Claims. (Cl. 20645.33)

ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Upper and lower trays have a plurality of angular partitions interposed to act as dividers, and to absorb most of the compressive loading on the container. The partitions may be assembled in various ways so that the contents of the container are either fully enclosed or partially or fully exposed. The container is easily disassembled at its destination and readily converted to permit display of its contents which may be stacked on one of the trays.

This invention relates to shipping containers. More particularly, it relates to a new and useful shipping container which can be readily converted to a kdisplay container.

It is an object of the invention to provide a shipping and display container havinggreater vertical strength inrelation to the amount of material used in its manufacture as compared to prior shipping containers of equal size made from identical material.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and display container made of several components such that the components can be used in making a display of the contents of the container when placed on sale.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a combined shipping and display container the components of which can be selectively arranged so that the container contents are either fully enclosed or partially or entirely displayed in the finished container without any sacrifice in strength regardless of the manner of assembly.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and display container made of several component parts that are capable of being independently strengthened or weakened to meet various conditions of environment or use.

Still a further object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and display container that can be easily opened without cutting through its walls thereby greatly decreasing the danger of damaging the contents of the container.

The nature and substance of the invention can be briefly summarized as comprising a combined shipping and display container composed of separate upper and lower trays there being a plurality of angular partitions interposed between the trays to form a vertical structural support. The angular partitions can be selectively arranged in various patterns in order to either fully expose the articles in the shipping container or to expose some of the articles-in the shipping container or to fully enclose the articles depending upon the needs and requirements of a particular application. The components of the container can be held in assembled relationship by tape, glue, metal banding, fabric banding, plastic banding, string, paper overwraps, shrinkable plastic film overwraps or any equivalents thereof. When the container is opened, the lower tray and the angular supports can be used to form a stack of trays containing the packaged articles thereby making a merchandise display for grocery store or like purposes.

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and Vdistinctly claiming the subject matvrter regarded as forming the present invention, it is believed the invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: c

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the preferred shipping and display container of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view illustrating an alternate arrangement of the angular partitions of the container.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view illustrating another alternate arrangement of the angular partitions of the container.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view illustrating still another alternate arrangement of the angular partitions of the container.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view illustrating the preferred embodiment of the container in fully assembled relationship.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view illustrating another alternate arrangement of the angular partitions whereby the articles in the container are exposed.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view illustrating a fully assembledcontainer with the angular partitions arranged as in FIGURE 6. Y

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view illustrating another arrangement of the angular partitions whereby the articles in the central portion of the container are exposed.

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view illustrating still a further alternate arrangement ofthe angular partitions whereby the articles at the ends ofthe container are exposed.

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view illustrating the use of the container components as a stacking display device for the articles when placed on sale.

FIGURE 11 is an exploded perspective view of a modiyfiedembodiment of the invention wherein the configuratherebetweenflhe several components of the containers are preferably made of single-wall corrugated board mate- ,rial such as commonlyused forfshipping containers of this type. The preferred material is a single-wall corrugated Vboard having C flutes and a Mullen test strength of 200 p.s.i.g. It is also possible to use single-wall corrugated board having a Mullen test strength of p.s.i.g., 175 p.s.i.g. or 275 p.s.i.g'. if the strength and/or costV of the container must be varied to meet specific packaging requirements.

The bottom tray 12 is constructed with the flutes of the corrugated 'board running in the direction of the arrow 15 which is preferably also the longer dimension of tray 12. The tray 12 is made of a flat single-wall corrugated board blank which is cut, scored and folded to form narrowupstanding side Walls 16 and 17 and vnarrow upstanding endwalls 18 and 19. Extensions are provided at the ends of the side walls which are folded over and lapped on the end walls as at 20, 21, 22 andv23. The laps 20, 21, 22 and'23 are secured to the end walls 18, 19 as by stapling, gluing or the like to permanently form the tray 12 in its illustrated form.

The top cover or tray 13 is formed in similar fashion. After assembly, it is turnedl over so that the side walls extend downwardly. In fact, the top tray 13' is preferably structurally identical to the bottom tray 12 as this provides added simplicity and reduces the number of variable components needed -to complete the container.

A plurality of angular partitions 14 are provided as previously noted in the preferred embodiment of FIG- URE 1. Preferably, the angular partitions are all identical and also made of the same material as the trays 12, 13. Each of the partitions 14 is composed of an end wall 24 and a pair of side walls 25 and 26 projecting at right angles from opposite edges of end wall 24 to form an essentially U-shaped angular partition which is preferred. As seen in FIGURE l, the flutes of the single-Wall corrugated board used in making the angular partitions 14 are vertically oriented.

It will be noted vthat the preferred embodiment of FIGURE 1 uses four angular partitions 14 which are arranged to fit snugly within the side walls of the tray 12. With this arrangement, the side walls 25 and 26 of the intermediate angular partitions 14 form interior partitions as at 2'7 and 28. The articles to be packaged are placed within the angular partitions 14 whereupon the top cover or tray 13 is snugly telescoped over the upper ends of the angular partitions to achieve an assembled construction as illustrated in FIGURE 5. The container is designed and assembled so that the compression loads encountered in use are primarily absorbed by the angular partitions in the longitudinal direction of the flutes.

The assembly is maintained in permanently assembled relationship by the narrow strips of tape 29, 30, 31 and 32 (FIGURE 5). Alternatively, the components of the container can be held in assembled relationship by means of metal banding, fabric banding, plastic or paper overwraps, shrinkable plastic overwraps or any equivalents which will hold the components together while the container is handled, shipped and stored prior to receipt at its ultimate destination. On arrival at its destination the container is easily and conveniently disassembled without cutting through the corrugated board as by merely 'severing the tape elements 29, 30, 31 and 32 whereupon the contents are exposed for display or for use.

The angular partitions 14 can be arranged in a great variety of ways to achieve similar results. This provides for a shipping and display container which can be readily and easily modiiied without any sacrice in strength to meet varying conditions which may depend in part on Vthe nature of the articles to be packaged therein. For

example, in the arrangement shown in FIGURE 2, the angular partitions 14 are arranged so that all four of the'end walls 24 are at right angles -to all of the side walls 25 and 26. On the other hand, in the arrangement of FIGURE 3 the two central angular partitions have been reversed from their position in FIGURE 2 to form a central partition composed of two superposed end walls 24 thereby providing two approximately equal compartments in the finishedvcontainer. Similarly, an arrangement can be provided as in FIGURE 4 whereby the end walls 24 are used to form opposite sides of the container while the side walls 25 and 26 are used to form the end walls and an intermediate partition. The conigurations of FIGURES 3 and 4 are geometrically identical although it will be recognized that the angular partitions have been rearranged.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing constructions that the geometry of the angular partitions 14 must have certain relationships in order to provide an :arrangement which will telescope snugly between the trays 12 and 13. Thus, in FIGURE l the width dimension A of the side wall 26 is about half the width of the end wall 24 as denoted by the dimension 2A. The side wall 25 is of substantially the same width as the side wall 26. While this dimensional relationship is preferred in order to achieve the various combinations described herein, it will be apparent that it is not essential to the successful practice of the inventive concept which contemplates the use of plural angular partitions all of which may be of different dimensional configuration if necessary or desirable.

Using the components as described in detail heretofore, it is also possible to form a finished container in which the articles therein are either partially or fully exposed. FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate an arrangement wherein the contents are fully exposed by selective arrangement of the angular 4partitions 14. It will be noted in FIGURE 6 that the angular partitions 14 are arranged so that all the end walls 24 are transversely positioned in the assembly. As a result, none of the end wa-lls 24 provides an outside wall of the iinished container. As a consequence, the packaged articles such as the cylindrical 4containers 33 (FIGURE 7) can be placed within the partitions and the entire assemblage overwrapped with a heat shrinkable iilm 3'4. The iilm 34 is transparent and after being shrunk over the assembled container, it provides full exposure of the cylindrical containers 33 on a-ll four sides of the finished shipping container. The transparent iilm 34 provides a strong overwrap which is satisfactory for shipping the finished container without any possibility of direct damage to the cylindrical containers 33. It will be understood, of course, that the cylindrical containers 33 can be replaced by any commercial articles such as bottles, jars, etc., but that the vertical loads on the container are borne by the angular partitions 14 rather than the articles 33 packaged therein.

Other alternatives whereby some of the articles or cylindrical containers 33 are exposed and others are not exposed are shown in FIGURES 8 and 9. In FIGURE 8 the angular partitions 14 at the ends are arranged to enclose the articles whereas the central partitions 14 are open to allow product exposure. Similarly, in FIGURE 9 the angular partitions 14 at the ends are open to expose the container contents whereas the central angular partitions 14 are arranged to enclose the contents of the container.

FIGURE 10 illustrates still another useful function of the container of this invention. When a shipping container as in FIGURES 5 and 7 is opened at its destination it can be stacked for display as shown in FIGURE l0. The angular partitions 14 if originally arranged as in FIG- URES 6 and 7 can be left in place to allow stacking with full visibility of the contents. However, greater visibility can be achieved by removal of the end angular partitions 14 to leave the two central angular partitions 14 in place as shown in FIGURE l0. This leaves suicient stacking strength for store display purposes without imposing any load on the cylindrical containers 33. It is also possible, of course, to open and remove the cover or tray 13 of the container of FIGURE 5 and then rearrange the angular partitions 14 in any desired way to permit stacking and display of the contents as shown in FIGURE 10.

FIGURE 1l illustrates another embodiment of the invention comprising a bottom tray 35 formed in a .manner similar to the tray 12 of FIGURE l and a top cover or tray 36 formed in similar fashion. The angular partitions 37 are each similar and comprise full adjoining side walls 38, 39 of substantially equal width and short inwardly extending walls 49 and 41. When assembled any two adjoining walls in each lof the angular partitions 37 are substantially at right angles to one another. The angular partitions can be arranged as in FIGURE ll to fully enclose the contents of the container. Alternatively, one or more of angular partitions 37 can be reversed to expose any portion of the container contents similar to the manner in which the previous embodiments of the container can be rearranged to expose any or all of the container contents. The container of FIGURE 11 can be held in assembled relation by any means previously described in connection with the embodiments of FIGURES l-lO.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modiiications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A combination shipping and display container comprising a bottom tray having upstanding side and end w-alls, a top cover having Idownwardly extending side and end walls, a plurality of angular partitions vertically interposed between said bottom tray and said top cover such that the compression loads on said container are primarily absorbed by the angular partitions, each of said angular partitions having an end wall and two side Walls, said side walls of each angular partition being substantially 4at right angles to its adjoining end wall, a plurality of articles resting on said bottom tray, said angular partitions being capable of assemblage to expose any portion of said articles in said container, and means for maintaining said container elements in assembled relationship.

2. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 1 wherein the end walls of said angular partitions are substantially twice as wide las each of the side Walls.

3. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 2, said container having at least four angular partitions interposed between said bottom tray and said top cover.

4. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 3, said container being overwrapped with -a heat shrinkable, transparent plastic lm which is heated and shrunk in place to hold the container in assembled relation.

5. A combination shipping and display container comprisin-g a bottom tray having upstanding side and end walls, a top cover having downwardly extending side and end walls, la plurality of angular partitions vertically interposed between said bottom tray and said top cover such that the compression loads on said container are primarily absorbed by the angular partitions, each of said angular partitions having two a-djoining side Walls at right angles to one another, a short wall extending inwardly from the edge of each of said side walls, each of said short inwardly extending walls being substantially narrower than said side walls and extending at right angles with respect to its adjoining side wall, a plurality of articles resting on said bottom tray, said angular partitions being capable of assemblage to expose any portion of said articles in said container, and means for maintaining said container elements in assembled relationship.

6. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 5 wherein the two adjoining side walls are substantially equal in width.

7. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 6, said container having at least four angular partitions interposed between said bottom tray and said top cover.

8. A combination shipping and display container as claimed in claim 7, said container being overwrapped with a heat shrinkable, transparent plastic. lm which is heated and shrunk in place to hold the container in assembled relation.

9. A combination shipping and display container comprising a bottom tray of single-wall corrugated board, said board being cut, scored and folded to provide narrow upstanding side 4and end walls such that the flutes of said corrugated board -run longitudinally parallel to the side walls, a flap extending from eac-h of said side walls, said aps being folded over on, lapped and secured to the end walls to complete the bottom tray, a top cover formed identically to said bottom tray, a plurality of angular partitions interposed between said bottom tray and top cover, each of said angular partitions being formed of single-wall :corrugated board and being substantially identical in conguration, said angular partitions being formed so that the iiutes of the corrugated board are perpendicularly oriented With respect to the top cover 4and bottom tray, each of said angular partitions including an end wall with a side wall extending at right angles lfrom each vertical edge of the end wall, the width of each side wall being approximately half the width of each end wall, the container being assembled so that the end walls of each of said angular partitions form at least a portion of the outside wall of the nished container, and means for maintaining said container elements in assembled relationship.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,534,011 12/ 1950 Frye 229-23 2,596,205 5 1952 Buttery. 2,989,226 6/ 1961 Swartz 229-23 3,111,221 11/1963 Chapman et al 229-42 X JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Prm'ary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A COMBINATION SHIPPING AND DISPLAY CONTAINER COMPRISING A BOTTOM TRAY HAVING UPSTANDING SIDE AND END WALLS, A TOP COVER HAVING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE AND END WALLS, A PLURALITY OF ANGULAR PARTITIONS VERTICALLY INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID BOTTOM TRAY AND SAID TOP COVER SUCH THAT THE COMPRESSION LOADS ON SAID CONTAINER ARE PRIMARILLY ABSORBED BY THE ANGULAR PARTITION, EACH OF SAID ANGULAR PARTITIONS HAVING AN END WALL AND TWO SIDE WALLS, SAID SIDE WALLS OF EACH ANGULAR PARTITION BEING SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLE TO ITS ADJOINING END WALL, A PLURALITY OF ARTICLES RESTING ON SAID BOTTOM TRAY, SAID ANGULAR PARTITIONS BEING CAPABLE OF ASSEMBLAGE TO EXPOSE ANY PORTION OF SAID ARTICLES IN SAID CONTAINER, AND MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID CONTAINER ELEMENTS IN ASSEMBLED RELATIONSHIP. 